New gallery celebrates art from WWII pilot

Monday, November 26, 2012

Event Date: November 30, 5:30 to 7 p.m.

When Howard Miner passed away in 2011, his son was reintroduced to a long-hidden treasure trove of art and journals.

Ron Miner’s father was a member of the Navy’s Black Cat Squadron and piloted amphibious aircraft on many harrowing missions in the South Pacific during WWII. Throughout his journey, Howard Miner wrote about and sketched images of the places he had been and the people he met.

Many of these sketches, as well as photographs, will be on display throughout December and January in a new display at Corban University’s Psalm Visual Arts Gallery. The public is invited to a free reception at the gallery with Salem resident Ron Miner on Nov. 30 between 5:30 and 7 p.m.

During the reception, Miner will talk about seeing the images as a young boy and how they were locked away for decades after that. He will also discuss his own personal journey to discover the parts of Howard Miner’s life that were rarely discussed.

Photographs show a much younger Howard Miner with his plane and crew members. The sketches reveal the day-to-day life of a PBY pilot. Some highlight the serenity of the tropics and native wildlife and others the devastation of being shot from the sky.

“They had a lot of down time and were often bored to tears,” Miner said about his father’s squadron. “They would find ways to entertain themselves and my dad would sketch and journal. Some of them look like photographs taken from the cockpit of his plane. These sketches and handwritten journal entries are a rare perspective of WWII.”

During the reception, Miner will also premiere his newly released book, “Sketches of a Black Cat,”available for sale, featuring selected entries from his father’s journal and much of the WWII veteran’s art.

The Psalm Visual Arts Gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will be closed Dec. 24-25 and Dec. 31-Jan. 1 for the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays. The gallery is located on Corban’s Salem campus at 5000 Deer Park Dr. SE in Salem.